COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Judy Bell, whose devotion to golf led her to become the first female president of the U.S. Golf Association, died Monday at her home in Colorado after spending 15 months in hospice care, the USGA said. She was 89.

Bell was 15 when she took a train from her native Kansas to California to compete in the U.S. Girls' Junior. She lost to the great Mickey Wright in the semifinals, her highest finish. But she played on two Curtis Cup teams and was the U.S. captain of two Curtis Cup teams.

What marked her career was volunteering on USGA committees, becoming a rules official and working her way up to become the first woman on the executive committee. She was elected president in 1996.

"Judy Bell was more than a leader, she was a force of nature whose vision and compass

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